smelly
English
editEtymology 1
editPronunciation
editAdjective
editsmelly (comparative smellier, superlative smelliest)
- Having a bad smell.
- She was hesitant to remove her shoes, as her socks were rather smelly.
- (figuratively) Having a quality that arouses suspicion.
- The detective read the documents and thought, "Something sure is smelly about this case."
- (figuratively, computing, slang, in extreme programming) Having signs that suggest a design problem; having a code smell.
- That smelly code needs to be refactored.
Synonyms
edit- (having a bad smell): fetid, foul-smelling, malodorous, rank, stinky (slang), whiffy (slang); see also Thesaurus:malodorous
- (having a quality that arouses suspicion): dodgy (informal), doubtful, dubious, suspect, suspicious
Antonyms
edit- (antonym(s) of “having a bad smell”): aromatic, fragrant, sweet-smelling
- (antonym(s) of “having a quality that arouses suspicion”): above board, clean
Derived terms
editTranslations
edithaving a bad smell
|
having a quality that arouses suspicion
|
Noun
editsmelly (plural smellies)
- (rare) A smelly person.
- 1965, Richard Dowling, chapter 31, in All the Beautiful People, London: Arthur Barker Limited […], page 228:
- And I can get home myself, thank you. Little smelly.
- 2000, Ian Whybrow, Little Wolf’s Postbag, London: Collins, →ISBN, page 45:
- Or if you know any piglets with water pistols, maybe you could throw them a bottle of gargle and say, ‘Hoy you smellies, I bet you can’t squirt the little dangly thing up the dark end of my gob with this’.
- 2009 June, “Anti-Fascism in Liverpool: Action! Race War to Door Wars [Review]”, in KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library, number 58-9, London: Kate Sharpley Library, →ISSN, page 7, column 1:
- However, according to [Joey] Owens, these anarchists are all a bunch of smellies, who run away “screaming” while forever being hit over the head with iron bars by victorious fascists.
- 2014, Shweta Taneja, Cult of Chaos: An Anantya Tantrist Mystery, Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins Publishers India, →ISBN, page 212:
- I have two little smellies to think of too. Family is big and cost of living in this city is increasing by the day.
Etymology 2
editA comical pronunciation of the initials SMLE.
Noun
editsmelly (plural smellies)
Anagrams
editCategories:
- English terms suffixed with -y
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛli
- Rhymes:English/ɛli/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Computing
- English slang
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with rare senses
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- en:Firearms
- English informal terms
- en:Smell